Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and retired politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.
Romney is a son and the youngest child of George W. Romney, a former governor of Michigan, and a member of the prominent Romney family. Born in Detroit and raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Mitt spent over two years in France as a Mormon missionary. He married Ann Davies in 1969, and has five sons with her. Active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) throughout his adult life, Romney served as bishop of his ward and later as a stake president for an area covering Boston and many of its suburbs. By 1971, he had participated in the political campaigns of both his parents. In 1971, Romney graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Brigham Young University (BYU) and in 1975 he completed a JD–MBA program from Harvard. He became a management consultant and in 1977 joined Bain & Company in Boston.